A Chinese Poem translated by Ezra Pounds.
"The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" is a poem originally composed by Li-Po in 701-762 AD, then translated by Ezra Pound. The poem was translated in 1915 and was published as part of Cathay, Pound's collection. This "Letter" Poem is not written in rhyme, however the images and musical tones found within the prose compensate for this. Living in London at that time, Pound discovered the Imagistic movement, he felt that the Chinese had long practiced imagism. The technique is present in the poem from beginning to end. This text will be discussing the author's images of love and sorrow by means of a Chinese woman's life.
The woman writing the letter begins with her childhood memories. Since Chinese girls all have straight bangs, the first line proves us she is talking about herself as a child. The author repeats the word "playing" three consecutive times describing the children's innocents (Pound 2,3,4). Pound also uses flowers, bamboo stilts, and blue plums all of which are the serene playing objects of the characters, representing nature. This may be yet another sign of innocence. In the first line the woman says she "still" has bangs, this may mean that she is still innocent and naïve at the time she is writing the letter, waiting for her husband.
Then, the two children move together. However, love does not seem to be an important element in the woman's childhood memories. One can say this because in the sixth line she says they left "without dislikes or suspicions" (Pound 6). From this we can assume that they did not feel love for one another, she relates to their love as a plain and neutral relationship. Chinese traditions involved the father choosing his daughters' husband. We can expect this to have happened in this poem leading us to believe that there are no real feelings of love. Since she got married with this man at fourteen, she was shy and timid. Pound conveys to us that there is no joy within her as she was authorized to be with him; she had no choice but to be with him so never looked back.
"The River-Merchant's Wife: A Letter" is a poem originally composed by Li-Po in 701-762 AD, then translated by Ezra Pound. The poem was translated in 1915 and was published as part of Cathay, Pound's collection. This "Letter" Poem is not written in rhyme, however the images and musical tones found within the prose compensate for this. Living in London at that time, Pound discovered the Imagistic movement, he felt that the Chinese had long practiced imagism. The technique is present in the poem from beginning to end. This text will be discussing the author's images of love and sorrow by means of a Chinese woman's life.
The woman writing the letter begins with her childhood memories. Since Chinese girls all have straight bangs, the first line proves us she is talking about herself as a child. The author repeats the word "playing" three consecutive times describing the children's innocents (Pound 2,3,4). Pound also uses flowers, bamboo stilts, and blue plums all of which are the serene playing objects of the characters, representing nature. This may be yet another sign of innocence. In the first line the woman says she "still" has bangs, this may mean that she is still innocent and naïve at the time she is writing the letter, waiting for her husband.
Then, the two children move together. However, love does not seem to be an important element in the woman's childhood memories. One can say this because in the sixth line she says they left "without dislikes or suspicions" (Pound 6). From this we can assume that they did not feel love for one another, she relates to their love as a plain and neutral relationship. Chinese traditions involved the father choosing his daughters' husband. We can expect this to have happened in this poem leading us to believe that there are no real feelings of love. Since she got married with this man at fourteen, she was shy and timid. Pound conveys to us that there is no joy within her as she was authorized to be with him; she had no choice but to be with him so never looked back.